Oil burner



Mar. 3. 1925. 1,528,722

w. E. ZAHNER OIL BURNER Filed April 7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 k x z A TTORNE Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N MN W. E. ZAHNER OIL BURNER- Filed April '7, 1924 Mar. 3, 1925.

R M w Patented Mar. 3,1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

on. BURNER.

Application filed April 7,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. ZAHNER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil Burners; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which-it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,'and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to h drocarbon fuel burners and the primary 0 ject thereof is to provide a safe, eflicient and easily operated fuel burning mechanism. The invention contemplates a fuel burning apparatus in'which liquid fuel may be fed to an atomizer pipe discharging into an atomizing con-,

duit connected to a vaporizing element connected to the burner element so that the fuel can be vaporized in a convenient manner.

Means is provided for causing a blast of air to pass through the atomizmg conduit to co-mingle with the hydrocarbon fuel to supply the necessary oxygen'to support combustion as .well as to break up the liquid in. fine divisions so as to provide a desirable mixture as the air and hydrocarbon fuel pass through the vaporizing chamber.

I have also provided a safety cut-01f as part of the apparatus so that in the event of an overflow of oil at the burner, the main suppl line will be shut off. The safety cut-o is so constructed that it will cause the impeller for the air blast to cease operation when the liquid. suppl. iscut off and I may utilize a thermostat ocated distant from the burner so that upon a rise in atmospheric temperature the supply to the vaporizing tube will be cut off. There is a pilot burner adaptedto burn constantly to supply the necessary flame for the main burner, the ilot burner being adapted to be furnished with fuel by any suitable means for example the ordinary. gas service pipe. There are certain other novel features of my invention which will be apparent by reference to the following descr1 tion in connection with the accompanying rawings in which:

Fi 1 is a perspective view of a liquid fuel Turning apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention, parts being 1924. Serial No. 704,651.

broken away to better illustrate certain other parts.

through the atomizer conduit, the vaporiz- Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view. Y

ing chamber, the main burner and the pilot burner.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4is a sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational View of the switch control mechanism, and

Fig. 6 is an end view of the same.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates a main li uid fuel supply line through which hydrocaidmn fuel may be fed to discharge into an atomizing pipe 3, in

turn discharging through the atomizer conduit having a goose neck extension 5 constitutlng a vaporizing chamber connected to the burner 6. The branch 7 of the pipe 3 which is within the vaporizing conduit 4 is curved upwardly at 8 in the form of a nozzle so that while there will be liquid in the branch 7 at all times, it cannot flow out of the nozzle 8 because the discharge end of the nozzle 8 is in a plane higher than the plane of the branch 7. Theconduit 4 is supplied with air blasts through the medium of an air impeller shown as an electric fan 9, the motor for the fan receives current from the commercial line indicated as the conductor 10 which may be secured to the terminals 12 on the switch block 14 in which is a knife switch 15 which constitutes a circuit breaker for cutting out all of the current in certain conditions which will be explained hereinafter. The opposite side of the switch block 1-1 is'provided with terminals which are connected to a magnetic switch 16 through the conductor 17. v The magnetic switch box 16 has the usual electrical connections with the motor of the fan and with a thermostat 19 which may throw the mechanism on the magnetic switch to cause certain automatic operations to take place which will be explained hereinafter. 20 is a solenoid which operates the valve 21 adapted to'close the pipe 1. hen the fan motor is shut off the solenoid will be operated through the switch box when the mechanism in the switch box is operated by cated rises beyond a predetermined degree.

the mechanism in the magnetic switch box 14 will be operated to cut out the fan motor and also close the pipe 3. \Vhen the temperature falls the thermostat 19 will cause the mechanism in switch box 14 to function so as to permit the valve 21 to open and also start up the fan motor. The specific construction of the mechanism in the magnetic switch box 14 is not illustrated in this application because there are a number of magnetic switch boxes on the market having mechanism capable of controlling the fan motor and the solenoid and their construction is so well'known by those skilled in the art that it is unnecessary to elaborate on any particular form of magnetic switch box, but attention is directed to the fact that the thermostat will be effective in controlling the operation of the fan motor and the oil supply to the pipe 3. When the fan motor is operating to cause the impeller to force a blast of air through the conduit 4 and the pipe is in open communication with the source of supply it is obvious that the air passing through the conduit and into the extension 5 (which is in the form of a Venturi tube) that the injector action will take place so that the fuel mixture consisting of the liquid fuel and the air will enter the vaporizing chamber 22 in the form of a spray where it will be heated by the pilot burner 23 located in the brackets 24; and 25 beneath it. The pilot burner 23 is supplied through a gas pipe 26 and the-flame from the jets or opening in the burner 23 will be directed against the vaporizing chamber 22 so as to heat the vaporizing chamber to cause the fuel to become vaporized in the manner well understood and from the vaorizing chamber the fuel is fed to the )urner 6 which may have slits or burner openings 27 to provide the necessary flame, the specific construction is immaterial however.

In order to provide a pilot flame for the burner I provide the bafiles 28 and 29 which will direct the flame upwardly through the holes 30 so that there will be a flame adjacent to the slits 27 at all times. Therefore when the fuel emerges through the slits it will be ignited. At the bottom of the member 31 is an overflow pipe 32. The bottom of the pipe 32 has a T-connection 33 so that oil flowing from pan 31 can discharge into the receptacle or bucket 34:. The bucket is suspended from a flexible connection or chain 35 which connects to the toe 36 of a counterbalancing lever 37. If the oil overflows from the pan 31, as soon as a sufiicient amount accumulates in the bucket 34: it will pull on the lever 37 allowing the connection 35 to slip ofi the toe 36 to move the switch 15 to open position by the chain portion 38 which opens the valve 21 through the magnetic switch 16 and solenoid 20. 39 1s a constant pressure valve in the pipe I placed there to feed a definite flow of oil to the pipe outlet 8 or to the pipe3 irrespective of vanations of pressure either in the pipe 4 or on the inlet side of the pipe 1.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the apparatus isentirely automatic, the pilot will be continuously lighted and the air impeller will be operating whenever the temperature is below a predetermined degree. The oil or fuel will be fed continuously unless cut out, either by overflowing or by the solenoid and whenever an abnormal condition arises the entire system will be rendered inactive. Therefore the device is entirely automatic in its operation, simple in construction and safe because the oil supply and air sup ly can be rendered inactive immediately w en there is a chance of danger.

Attention is called to the fact that the end of the pipe 3 discharges into the pipe 4. before it reaches the burner so that the air and oil can mix. This construction permits the air and oil to How together into the portion 22 above the preheater 23 so that the air can be heated to the temperature at which the oil vaporizes before the mixture is ignited. Ordinarily the oil flows from the supply pipe cold or at such a low temperature that it does not vaporize while it is mixed with the air. -By m xing the oil and air first and then raising" the temperatures of both .to .the vaporizing temperature of the oil, there is a thorough co-mingling of the air and oil vapor which clearly enhances the value of the burner and this I consider an important feature of mv invention.

It is also to be observed that the top of the nozzle 8 of the pipe 3 is as high as the horizontal portion of the pipe 1, the construction of the nozzle bein such that danger of siphonin will be eliminated.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patentis: I

An oil burner element. comprising a casing, a ported member in the casing having a discharge end projecting through the top of the casing, burnerelements on the top of the casing around the outlet of the ported ele ment, aligning depending lugs on the ported element, a preheater underneath the ported element supported .by the lugs and upwardly and outwardlyinclined deflectors on opposite sides of the ported element for directing the flame from the preheater.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM E. ZAHNER. 

